Socially Adept

Radical Kindness - the life-source for Partnerships I’ve been in a few conversations in the last week or so that touch on our hesitation to act, in the face of obvious need.  Whether that’s in the ask to imagine and be transformative, we’re inadvertently distancing ourselves from meaningful action in the here and now.  Or in the exposition of uncertainty about the future, we’re unable to step away from what holds our feet firm. These paradoxes in action are rife in partnership working, where the structures and systems for engaging with complexity are often a step or so behind where the innovation is happening.  As Julia Unwin talks about in her 2018 paper on kindness in public policy, it’s not sufficient for changes to how we work to be the sole proviso of courageous leaders.  We need institutional structures to normalise and mainstream behaving with humanity, as a precondition of the relationships that support action in complexity. I came across a precis of some of Johan Galtung’s key works this week, in celebration of his life, his influence and commitment to peaceful futures.  At the end of the article, it highlighted the value of deep thinking about the past and the future, if only we can embrace the “opening into the future that a liminal moment like waiting, being sidelined, or feeling a little lost can bring.”  In these spaces where time feels like it stands still, where we feel overwhelmed and unable to act, these may be the most creative moments.  Perhaps if we talk a little more about these moments of hesitation and stuckness, as part of our everyday experiences, we might find ways to be intentionally kind.  The kindness that enables creativity and reciprocity amidst uncertainties.  The kindness that enables us to act. With thanks to Seth Oliver for inspiration and the artwork below, positioned front and centre in the lecture theatre #Anticipation2024 #beupliftedfriday #communitywellbeing #placematters #collaboration #leadership #localgov #futuresthinking #radicalkindness

If you're looking for people and tools to help you think and act for seemingly impossible change, come join Servane Mouazan ICF PCC and I, on Friday 19 April on the subject of 'Greenwashing'.   ‘Radical partnerships’ is a method for creating useful *and* out of the ordinary images of the future.  The method: 🔔 goes with the grain of familiarity *and* strangeness, 🙌 makes the most of the different interactions with others that we bring, 🌱 helps us imagine what is seemingly impossible, and so ...creates the components for collective decisions and actions on radical, transformational questions of our time. Come join us in a short lunchtime session with change leaders, place-based activators, decision-makers, artists and entrepreneurs. Book on here: https://lnkd.in/gf4GRkdC #futuresthinking #greenwashing #thinkingenvironment #communitywellbeing #placebased #organisationaldevelopment Victoria Harvey Jamie Saunders Fran Ellington Fabian Wallace-Stephens

Can Futures-Thinking Help Reduce Polarisation? Start 2024 with this online interactive applied futures-thinking skills session with other people working in social impact, systems-change, inclusion and sustainability. With my co-host Esmee Wilcox, FRSA, we will guide you on a mini journey in the future where you will discover how to: – Use a collaborative futures-thinking game to generate insightful and provocative ideas – Cultivate deep presence, adaptability and curiosity – Explore conflict by thinking on the edge of what’s possible "The quality of everything we do depends on the quality of the thinking we do first. The quality of our thinking depends on the way we treat each other while we are thinking". ~ Nancy Kline. Where: ZOOM Online Session – Book here https://lnkd.in/g2TXfUyb When: January 18th, 2024 – 12 pm to 1 pm UK GMT See you then! ;-) #consciousInnovation #FuturesThinking #Polarisation #Conflict #conflictmanagement #Play #Imagination Women in Social Finance